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In summary By Peter Espinoza Pete Espinoza, a former judge in Los Angeles Superior Court, is a member of the California Committee on Revision of the Penal Code. Michael Romano, Special to CalMatters Michael Romano, who teaches criminal law and policy at Stanford Law School, is chair of the California Committee on Revision of the Penal Code, mromano@stanford.edu. One of the basic tenets of our criminal justice system is that punishment is supposed to be proportionate to the crime. But in the wave of “tough on crime laws” passed in the 1990s, California turned that longtime legal standard on its head, instead adopting many sentencing enhancements, which add years to a person’s prison term, often doubling it. ....